Judges and Saviors, Deborah and Samson

Reflections of a World in Chaos

Hillel I. Millgram

This is a book about a book: it is an in-depth yet reader friendly analysis of the Book of Judges, one of the most dramatic books of the Bible. Against the commonly-held view that this remarkable work is no more than a collection of hero tales stemming from Israel’s earliest days in its land—its “Heroic Age,” so to speak—this study makes the case that the Book of Judges is a unified composition with a single focused message: that it is the values held by a people and not its politics that determine its fate. Further, Judges contends that there is a direct connection between the kind of values people internalize and the level of violence that racks their society, both inflicted from without and generated from within. And not least, that the presence of violence is a symptom that a society has abandoned the moral values of monotheism for the Machiavellian politics of a pagan worldview that worships power as the ultimate reality. The larger-than-life heroes and heroines—Ehud and Jael, Deborah and Gideon, Jephthah and Samson—who people the pages of Judges serve by their example to illustrate the way this thesis works out in the world.

Hamilton Books

Pages: 628 • Trim: 7 x 10

978-0-7618-6989-4 • Paperback • March 2018 • $51.99 • (£40.00)

978-0-7618-6990-0 • eBook • March 2018 • $49.00 • (£38.00)

Subjects: Religion / Biblical Commentary / General, Religion / Biblical Biography / Old Testament, Religion / Biblical Criticism & Interpretation / Old Testament, Religion / Biblical Studies / Old Testament / General, Religion / Christianity / General

Judges and Saviors, Deborah and Samson

Reflections of a World in Chaos

Paperback

eBook

Summary

This is a book about a book: it is an in-depth yet reader friendly analysis of the Book of Judges, one of the most dramatic books of the Bible. Against the commonly-held view that this remarkable work is no more than a collection of hero tales stemming from Israel’s earliest days in its land—its “Heroic Age,” so to speak—this study makes the case that the Book of Judges is a unified composition with a single focused message: that it is the values held by a people and not its politics that determine its fate. Further, Judges contends that there is a direct connection between the kind of values people internalize and the level of violence that racks their society, both inflicted from without and generated from within. And not least, that the presence of violence is a symptom that a society has abandoned the moral values of monotheism for the Machiavellian politics of a pagan worldview that worships power as the ultimate reality. The larger-than-life heroes and heroines—Ehud and Jael, Deborah and Gideon, Jephthah and Samson—who people the pages of Judges serve by their example to illustrate the way this thesis works out in the world.

Details

Hamilton Books

Pages: 628 • Trim: 7 x 10

978-0-7618-6989-4 • Paperback • March 2018 • $51.99 • (£40.00)

978-0-7618-6990-0 • eBook • March 2018 • $49.00 • (£38.00)

Subjects: Religion / Biblical Commentary / General, Religion / Biblical Biography / Old Testament, Religion / Biblical Criticism & Interpretation / Old Testament, Religion / Biblical Studies / Old Testament / General, Religion / Christianity / General

Author

Hillel I. Millgram has served in pulpits in the United States and Canada before settling in Jerusalem where, for the last twenty years, he has pursued a career of research and writing while teaching graduate courses in Bible.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations
List of Maps
Preface and Acknowledgements
Introduction
Prologue: Setting the Stage
Foreword: A Flawed Follow-Up
Chapter 1: Getting Our Bearings
Chapter 2: The View from Olympus
Part I: The First Saviors: Solo Beginnings
Chapter 3: A New Age Dawns
Chapter 4: The Left Hand of God
A Minor Interlude: Shamgar
Part II: The Deborah Duet
Chapter 5: Canaan’s Last Gasp
Chapter 6: Sing Muse, How the Enemies of the Lord are Fallen
Part III: The Gideon Quartet
Chapter 7: The Hewer of Idols
Chapter 8: The Day of Midian
Chapter 9: Nemesis
Chapter 10: The Man Who Would Be King
A Second Minor Interlude: Tola And Jair
Part IV: The Jephthah Quintet: A Tragedy in Five Installments
Chapter 11: A Dialogue Twixt Heaven and Earth
Chapter 12: The Man from Tob
Chapter 13: Giving Peace a Chance
Chapter 14: Triumph and Tragedy
Chapter 15: Into the Valley Of Death
Final Minor Interlude: Ibzan, Elon and Abdon
Part V: The Loose Cannon: The Samson Sextet
Chapter 16: Introduction: The Tragedy Of Samson
Chapter 17: Prologue: In the Beginning
Chapter 18: Timnah
Chapter 19: Vengeance Is Mine
Chapter 20: The Way to Dusty Death
Chapter 21: Unresolved Dissonances
Epilogue: Has It Come To This?
Chapter 22: Epilogue Part I: A Tale of Stolen Silver
Chapter 23: Epilogue Part II (A): Atrocity!
Chapter 24: Epilogue Part II (B): Outrage!
Chapter 25: Epilogue Part II (C): Restoration
Conclusion
Chapter 26: Olympus Revisited
Appendices
Glossary of Terms and Place Names
Who’s Who in Judges
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the Author

Reviews

[Millgram]…wonderfully integrates an explanation of the relevant historical background of the book and includes an analysis of the concepts necessary for a deep understanding of the text. [He] also delineates… the literary, historical and religious significance of Judges… giving no little attention to linguistic and textual problems in order to explain words, expressions, and difficult concepts whose significance requires elucidation, comparing the text we have with those that exist in ancient translations of the Bible (the Septuagint, the Vulgate) and by examining the medieval Jewish commentaries and modern non-Jewish expositors. This is a unique work that every reader… will enjoy immensely, and will learn much from it about the Book of Judges in particular, and about the Bible in general.
— Shlomo Sharan, professor emeritus, Tel-Aviv University, professor emeritus, Tel-Aviv University

You are not really a thinker unless you are thinking outside the box. If you are not thinking in a new way then you are really simply repeating the thoughts of others…. Hillel Millgram is a thinker because he thinks outside the box….[He] senses the glory and the tragedy of Biblical figures….[He] has keen cultural sensibility, bringing together different cultures in order to achieve a kind of wisdom. In his works he exhibits the literary and historical sensibility of a profound ethical thinker, showing that the bottom line is that ultimately God has to be the moral arbiter of the world.
— Avraham H. Feder, rabbi-emeritus and senior scholar, Beth Tikvah Synagogue, Toronto

A beautifully written historical narrative which reads as a novel…. The Biblical characters come alive, and careful research and original translation clarify both the social structural, cultural, and psychological factors as well as the symbolism that contextualize the author’s explanation of the Book of Judges… a significant contribution to our understanding of this biblical period both in terms of history and social science and a profound message of how leaders may became part of the problem rather than its solution.
— Judith Porter, PhD, Professor Emerita of sociology, Bryn Mawr College

The timeliness of this collection is part of its appeal. Immigration has moved from a vital part of our modern society to a political talking point.
— Lisa C. Taylor, Mom Egg Review

Judges and Saviors, Deborah and Samson

Reflections of a World in Chaos

Hillel I. Millgram

Judges and Saviors, Deborah and Samson

Reflections of a World in Chaos

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